UCLA freshmen basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley, and Jalen Hill were arrested on shoplifting charges during the team’s trip to China for a game against Georgia Tech.
The three players stayed back in Hangzhou while UCLA beat Georgia Tech 63-60 on Saturday in Shanghai, and ESPN’s Arash Markazi reports that the trio could stay there “for a week or two” while the investigation continues. This also means that the players will stay in China while the rest of the team travels back to Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Markazi adds that a source tells him there is surveillance footage of the players shoplifting from three high-end stores, after it had initially been reported that the shoplifting occurred at only one store.
A source familiar with the investigation says there is surveillance footage of the players shoplifting from three stores inside of a high-end shopping center next to the team’s hotel in Hangzhou, which includes Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Salvatore Ferragamo.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) November 11, 2017
Markazi’s report was addressed during the ESPN broadcast of the game, and it was as if LiAngelo’s father LaVar Ball had been told of the news right when the ESPN cameras found him.
The tip-off even included UCLA legend Bill Walton — ESPN’s color commentator — ranting about the shoplifting charges, and apologizing “on behalf of the human race for this travesty.”
Bill Walton apologizes in behalf of " the entire human race" for LiAngelo Ball and his teammates stealing sunglasses in China pic.twitter.com/O7VluvbRsU
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) November 11, 2017
[ESPN]
oh, puh-lease, bill…….